The latest releases reviewed
MAEVE DONNELLY WITH TONY MCMANUS
Flame In the Heart
Claddagh
****
The lift of east-Galway fiddle music is there to be
relished in Maeve Donnelly's latest collection. Absorbing some of
the Scottish influences of her fine, if muted, guitar accompanist,
Tony McManus, Donnelly is at her best on the pair of reels,
Moll Ha'pennyand
Monasteryedan Fancy. On these she builds a positively
Cajun atmosphere, exploring the lonesome underbelly of the tunes
and then rising to a glorious gallop as if to exorcise the
darkness. Later she ventures to Sliabh Luachra to sample
Pádraig O'Keeffe's
O'Callaghan's Hornpipe, her fiddle tiptoeing through the
tune with grace and danger in equal parts. James Blennerhassett
lends light-fingered double bass in the back room too. A case study
in insightful understatement that'll seep into the ether and lodge
there for a long time to come.
www.maevedonnelly.com
SIOBHÁN LONG
Download tracks:
Mrs Galvin's Jig, O'Callaghan's Hornpipe
DAVE FLYNN
Draíocht
No label
***
Amid the pastoral waterflow and birdsong of Draíocht,
Dublin composer Dave Flynn attempts to establish a singular voice
for himself but falters somewhere between the rural idyll of Nick
Drake and the intricate strings of Andy Irvine. His own weak vocals
are a major distraction in the midst of a loose collection of
original pieces, idiosyncratic snapshots of traditional tunes and a
few poetry borrowings. Ultimately, Flynn hints at an appetite
hungry for exploring that netherworld where the traditional and
classical worlds collide, echoing the formality of some of
Carolan's finest compositions centuries ago. However, he falls foul
of the temptation to over-embellish, filling every gap with an
overabundance of sound. A raggle-taggle debut that might just morph
into something much more robust with a steadier hand at the tiller.
www.daveflynn.com
SIOBHÁN LONG
Download tracks:
Lullaby, The Afro Classical Jig
